At the hospital trainees whole day teaching sessions we have had an interesting debate on whether doctors should accept gifts from the pharmaceutical industry - post it notes, pens and lunchtime sandwiches etc etc. In the group I facilitated I was really surprised how much support there was for accepting these promotional gifts as most of the doctors in my group thought it did not affect them and that they could clearly distinguish between marketing and education.
The debate has resurfaced with some discussion on the Google group about drug company sponsored educational meetings. The meeting was about neuropathic pain and was sponsored by Pfizer. Pfizer of course make Lyrica - which has global sales of $2.8 billion dollars in 2009 - click here for Pfizers 2009 Financial report. In 2009 sales increased by 10% compared with 2008.
If you look at comparative costs a 28 day course of Lyrica (pregabalin) 50mg costs the NHS £96.60 compared to £4.99 for an equivalent dose of gabapentin (300mg). The increase in Lyrica sales have happened despite authorative advice that 'in patients with neuropathic pain, there is no statistically significant difference in clinical response rates between TCA, anticonvlusants and SNRIs' - click here for the link to MeReC Rapid Review published by the National Prescribing Centre.
The reason why Pfizer have been so successful is because of their effective marketing campaign. It is estimated that in the UK there are 8,000 pharmaceutical representatives to promote their products to 60,000 NHS doctors - not a bad ratio, and that big pharma spends £10,000 per doctor on promotional activities. To read more click here for a link to No Free Lunch - which is a website that aims to expose the activities of Big Pharma in the NHS.
So next time you accept a drug rep sandwich please remember there is no such thing as a free lunch!
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